National Women’s Health Week

By NJSFWC | April 22, 2020

Planning your club’s observance for National Women’s Health Week (May 10–May 16) this year is more important than ever as we all continue to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. Pull out your sewing machine—or needle and thread—to make protective masks for women who are medical personnel, police officers, nursing home personnel, grocery store clerks, or serving in other roles on the front lines.

These masks are not used in place of the N95 masks. However, they could be worn in place of respiratory masks by a medical person or other essential worker when performing tasks other than ones involved with the Coronavirus, and thus save the infection preventing masks. Please read and adhere to the guidelines below governing this project.

  • Do not go to the fabric store to purchase materials for this project unless you are in a non-restricted travel state.
  • If you have the materials at your home and other members of your club have offered to assist you in the sewing of some, drop the materials off in their mailbox and have them return the finished masks to you in your mailbox.
  • Visit the Turban Project website.
  • Suggestions: Apply interfacing to fabric, put right sides of fabric together and add one more layer of fabric. Be sure to double sew across elastic. Fabric should be tight-weave cotton fabric.
  • When you have finished the masks call your hospital/primary care physician, police department, grocery store, nursing home, or town health department to arrange a drop off, being sure to tell them that these are non-infection masks.

And, don’t forget to snap a photo of your completed masks—or host a Zoom meeting of you making them with other club members—before distributing them. Submit your brief write up to pr@gfwc.org to be considered for the GFWC Blog.